Life, 1923-07-19 · page 12 of 36
Life — July 19, 1923 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two contrasting cartoons about isolationism during what appears to be the interwar period. **Left panel:** "The Legion That Knows, And—" depicts marching soldiers with bayonets, representing military preparedness and interventionist thinking. **Right panel:** "The Legion That Never Learns" shows a crowd beneath signs reading "Isolation Forever" and "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"—satirizing isolationists as willfully ignorant, depicted as a large mass moving mindlessly toward a cliff. The cartoons argue that isolationism represents dangerous naivety while military strength reflects wisdom. The contrast suggests that those opposing U.S. military engagement are foolish and headed toward disaster, while prepared forces represent enlightened leadership—a critique of American non-interventionist sentiment, likely from the 1930s-early 1940s period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE LEGION THAT KNOWS, AND— THE LEGION THAT NEVER LEARNS, Broadcastings By Montague Glass LL this discussion of the three-mile limit and the twelve-mile limit will come to nothing unless Great Britain will concede the situation of the high-water mark of the New Jersey coast. For instance, in a recent critical notice of a book called “Groundswells,” the London Atha- n@um admitted that the author knew all about the sea, be- cause he was born in New Jersey. The precise spot was Montclair, and accordingly, measuring from the Montclair Coast Guard Station, Bernardsville would be the high seas within the meaning of the London Athaneum, if not of Grotius. Thus a solid shot sent across the bows of a Bermuda rum runner anywhere between Hackettstown and Morristown would at once plunge us into war. Is it worth it? I mean when you can get it so easily from the Province of Quebec. eK Tuis is an austere age, what with Censorship, the blue Sunday and all sorts of repressive legislation. Hence it is inevitable that Mr. Henry Ford’s presidential candidacy will be fiercely opposed by the Puritans simply because they will begrudge 110,000,000 people four years of cheap amusement. KK Last season in New York there was a marked revival of the type of mystery play in which suspicion is fastened upon every member of the cast in turn, until the audience is quite confused. At ten minutes to eleven, however, the guilt of a $150-a-week actor is finally established to the satisfaction of such commuters as are obliged to catch the 11:20 at the Grand Central Station, and all ends hap- pily for the management and the authors. These plays are written according to a formula, no doubt, but it sometimes happens that the author arrives at a point in his drama not two minutes from the final curtain, where he is unable to assign the guilt with any degree of plausi- bility. One of these authors consulted Al Woods in his dilemma. “Never mind trying to pin it onto a member of the cast,” Al said. “Say it was the house treasurer and let it go at that. A New York audience will believe anything about the man that sells the tickets in the box office.” ne * Maxwett G. Etensocen of Elenbogen & Dreyfuss, publishers of text books for use in colleges and high schools, writes as follows: Dear Sir: With reference to Amherst College, we note in connec- tion with the resignation of President Meiklejohn, that George A. Plympton, President of the Amherst Corpora- tion, is also President of Ginn & Company, probably the biggest competitor we or anybody else have got in the text-book publishing line. We estimate that the students of Amherst College must buy a considerable number of text books in the course of a year, and what we would like to know is, could we get a look-in there, or do the (Continued on page 29) comicbooks.com